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Privacy Camp will take place on 29 January 2019 in Brussels, Belgium, just before the start of the CPDP conference. Privacy Camp brings together civil society, policy-makers and academia to discuss existing and looming problems for human rights in the digital environment.

Platforms, Politics, Participation

Privacy Camp 2019 will focus on digital platforms, their societal impact and political significance. Due to the rise of a few powerful companies such as Uber, Facebook, Amazon or Google, the term “platform” has moved beyond its initial computational meaning of technological architecture and has come to be understood as a socio-cultural phenomenon. Platforms are said to facilitate and shape human interactions, thus becoming important economic and political actors. While the companies offering platform services are increasingly the target of regulative action, they are also considered as allies of national and supranational institutions in enforcing policies voluntarily and gauging political interest and support. Digital platforms employ business models that rely on the collection of large amounts of data and the use of advanced algorithms, which raise concerns about their surveillance potential and their impact on political events. Increasingly rooted in the daily life of many individuals, platforms monetise social interactions and turn to questionable labor practices. Many sectors and social practices are being “platformised”, from public health to security, from news to entertainment services. Lately, some scholars have conceptualised this phenomenon as “platform capitalism” or “platform society”.

Privacy Camp 2019 will unpack the implications of “platformisation” for the socio-political fabric, human rights and policy making. In particular, how does the platform logic shape our experiences and the world we live in? How do institutional actors attempt to regulate platforms? In what ways do the affordances and constraints of platforms shape how people share and make use of their data?

Participate!

We welcome panel proposals relating to the broad theme of platforms. Besides classic panel proposals we are also seeking short contributions for our workshop “Situating Platforms: User Narratives”.

1. Panel proposals

We are particularly interested in panel proposals on the following topics: platform economy and labour; algorithmic bias; democratic participation and social networks.

Submission guidelines:

Indicate a clear objective for your session, i.e. what would be a good outcome for you?

Indicate other speakers that could participate in your panel (and let us know which speaker has already confirmed, at least in principle, to participate).

Make it as participative as possible, think about how to include the audience and diverse actors. Note that the average panel length is 75 minutes.

Send us a description of no more than 400 words.

2. “Situating Platforms: User Narratives” submissions

In an effort to discuss situated contexts with regard to platforms, we will have a session on lived practices and user narratives. Individuals, civil society groups or community associations are welcome to contribute in the format of a short talk or show & tell demonstration. Details and the online submission form are here:

Deadline

The deadline for all submissions is 18 November. After the deadline, we will review your submission and let you know by the end of November whether your proposal can be included in the programme. It is possible that we suggest merging panel proposals if they are very similar.

Please send your proposal via email to privacycamp(at)edri.org!

If you have questions, please contact Kirsten at kirsten.fiedler(at)edri(dot)org or Imge at imge.ozcan(at)vub(dot)be.

Tomorrow, on 23 January 2018, Privacy Camp brings together civil society, policy-makers and academia to discuss problems for human rights in the digital environment. In the face of what some have noted as a “shrinking civic space” for collective action, the event provides a platform for experts from across these domains to discuss and develop shared principles to address key challenges for digital rights and freedoms.

Themed “Speech, settings and [in]security by design”, the one-day conference at the Saint-Louis University in Brussels features panel discussions and privacy workshops led by experts in the fields of privacy, surveillance and human rights advocacy. The nonprofit, nonpartisan event draws privacy activists, civil society representatives, public servants and academia of all ages and backgrounds who are interested in improving privacy and security in communications and work towards the respect of human rights in the digital environment.

This year, Privacy Camp also features the “Civil Society Summit” of the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS).

All good things must come to an end. But not all things end quite as dramatically and with as much suspense as this year’s PrivacyCamp!

Join our post-camp party at Smouss Bar! There will be complimentary snacks, free drinks (for those with a conference badge, so remember to register to get yours) and, most importantly, our legendary “Big Fat PrivacyCamp Quiz of 2018”.

Here are the directions for getting from the conference to the after-party (by foot, 18 mins):

We’re happy to announce the publication of the draft programme for our upcoming Privacy Camp 2018 (hashtag #PrivacyCamp18). The print version of the programme (pdf) with a full description of all panels can be downloaded here.

This year, we will also have two additional surprises for you: An Open Internet Privacy Bar where privacy cocktails will be served to you by the Privacy Training Center and an official after-party (with a quiz & real cocktails). Stay tuned for more details!

Open Internet Privacy Bar

During the conference, the Open Internet Privacy Bar will offer the following workshops:

Time

Workshop

Room

14:30-15:30

Privacy and security in the blender: How to better protect your digital life (offered by Privacy Training Center); Q&A

Foyer

16:30-17:30

The Data Protection Laws (GDPR) to intensify the privacy & security cocktail: understanding the data protection rights offered by the GDPR to empower individuals to use and practice privacy (offered by Privacy Algebra); Q&A

Join us for the 6th annual Privacy Camp! Privacy Camp will take place on 23 January 2018 in Brussels, Belgium, just before the start of the CPDP conference. Privacy Camp brings together civil society, policy-makers and academia to discuss existing and looming problems for human rights in the digital environment. In the face of a “shrinking civic space” for collective action, the event aims to provide a platform for actors from across these domains to discuss and develop shared principles to address key challenges for digital rights and freedoms of individuals.

Our theme this year is “speech, settings and [in]security by design”. The event will feature two main tracks. The first will discuss the challenges to freedom of speech online and the potential of a digital public sphere and the second track will focus on the security of devices and infrastructure. Altogether, these two tracks will explore whether we can collectively design better data infrastructures and information architecture. Participate!

The first track will focus on the challenging dynamics that we have been facing as we imagine a democratic digital public sphere. The topics covered will include the privacy-invasive measures to censor legitimate speech online as well as the role that algorithms play in curation and governance with sessions on algorithmic decision-making, accountability, fake news and the spread of propaganda.

The second track will include sessions on state hacking and malware, law enforcement access to user data (so-called “e-evidence”) and device security. It will also include hands-on tutorials on how to protect your communications better.

This year, Privacy Camp will also feature the “civil society summit” of the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) with opening remarks by Giovanni Buttarelli.

Indicate a clear objective for your session: What would be a good outcome for you?

Indicate other speakers that could participate in your panel (and let us know which speaker has already confirmed, at least in principle, to participate).

Make it as participative as possible, think about how to include the audience and diverse actors as much as possible.

Send us a description of no more than 500 words.

Deadline for submissions is 20 November.

After the deadline, we will review your submission and let you know by 6 December whether your panel can be included in the programme. It is possible that we suggest to merge proposals if they are very similar.

Who controls your data? Who controls the machines? Who is to be held responsible for the security of our data, and how can civil society make sure the message gets through? These questions were at the very centre of the debates surrounding the pending adoption of important EU-wide legislation, such as the review of the e-Privacy Directive, the smart borders package, the draft Regulation on dual-use goods, and the latest filtering proposals in the draft copyright Directive.

The first panels of the morning were “Community Building Workshop: Societal Impacts of Big Data and the Role of Civil Society”, which discussed how civil society can engage in the policy debates on Big Data, and “Owning the Web Together: Peer Production and Sharing”, which pondered on whether it’s possible to create online platforms based on genuine practices of sharing, with different ownership models and fair working conditions, or if the commons-based decentralised digital platforms are a utopian dream.

The next panel “Instant Big Data Targeting: Programmatic Ad Tech & Beyond” explained to the participants the structure of programmatic advertising, and discussed how personal data is treated and for what purposes. Simultaneously, the panel “The Internet of Things, Security and Privacy” discussed the possible effects of the Internet of Things (IoT) to the future of surveillance, and the solutions to legislative approaches and security education.

The afternoon panel on “Surveillance Tech Export and Human Rights Law” shed light on the proposed overhaul of the EU’s export controls for so-called “dual-use items” that can be used to violate fundamental human rights such as the right to privacy and the protection of personal data. The panellists discussed how human rights law could be used to hold the companies and states accountable.

The Lightning Talks presented a number of interesting projects and point-of-views related to online privacy. For example, Alexander Czadilek and Christof Tschohl from EDRi observer Epicenter.works introduced their new Handbook for the Evaluation of Anti-Terrorism legislation (HEAT), and Katarzyna Szymielewicz from EDRi member Panoptykon presented some ideas on how a strong implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) could be ensured in the EU Member States. EDRi presented the guide to Digital Defenders, a booklet to teach kids privacy that was published in October 2016 and proved to be a huge success.

The day of fruitful debates was wrapped up with a bit of fun. An interactive quiz tested the participants’ level of knowledge regarding surveillance. We came reassured that our community excels at mapping surveillance, definitely watches too much TV (but only educative contents, of course!), can separate fact from fiction, reads the news, and surely knows their classics of surveillance related literature.